


4 am

by Paradoxpages



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: ACOTAR - Freeform, ACOWAR, AU, Azriel - Freeform, Elriel, F/M, Modern AU, Rhysand - Freeform, elain archeron - Freeform, feyre - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-29
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-08 07:37:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12859878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Paradoxpages/pseuds/Paradoxpages
Summary: Elain thinks that nobody should be held accountable for what they do at 4 in the morning when all they have in their system is coffee.





	4 am

It was 4am and Elain was still awake; not by her choice of course. She had just spent the last 4 hours finishing up a 10 page essay for her botany class, and now her body was too wired with caffeine to go to sleep. At this point she knew there was no hope in getting any sleep so she moved from her comfy computer chair to the kitchen in her apartment to make herself another cup of coffee. 

While waiting for the overly fancy coffee machine Feyre and her husband had gotten her as a housewarming present to brew her drink she shuffled around clearing things up. The kitchen was still a mess from making her dinner earlier that evening, or yesterday technically. She’d really been awake for a long time she realized. She was even still wearing the same Victoria’s Secret workout leggings she’d put on over 24 hours ago, though she had lost her stuffy hoody and decided to milk around in just her bralette. Elain was finally disrupted from her busy work of putting away pans when the coffee machine beeped. 

In all honesty she was on her 5th cup of the night which explained her jittery hands as leaned onto the counter with her mug (also a gift from Feyre and Rhys) and look out her window. Being on the bottom floor of the apartment complex did have a lot of downsides (stomping upstairs neighbors to be exact) but the view wasn’t one of them. She had a perfect view of her neighbor across the courtyard who she knew would come out for his morning workout any minute now. (This wasn’t her first all nighter, and she had noticed his early morning habits before.) 

Oh, Azriel. He was the definition of beauty, with his dark black hair, tan skin, and gorgeous hazel eyes. She had never had an actual conversation with him. No, she wasn’t as forward as either of her sisters, Feyre or Nesta. When they met someone they were attracted to they made it quite clear what their intentions were. But Elain was at a loss for words whenever she encountered Az on her way to and from their complex. Azriel on the other hand would always make a point to say hi to her when they bumped into each other, and he even once walked her to her door talking to her about the weather. He seemed to want to get to know her, but didn’t want to push her when he got the feeling she wasn’t interested. She was, how could she not be, she just didn’t want to make a fool of herself. 

As if conjuring him with her thought she caught sight of a quick flash of a shadow across the courtyard. There he was, in all his shirtless glory. Even though it was still very dark, Elain could still see his lack of shirt due to the light of one of the new lamps their landlord added in recently. Elain didn’t know what Az did for a living, but whatever it was it kept him in tip top shape. She swirled her coffee around in its mug as she watched him do him warm up stretches. Anyone would agree with her that the sight of him bending over and side to side would have them swooning. 

As she watched him do a few other stretches she contemplated actually having a real conversation with him for once. He was obviously interested so there was no chance she’d be rejected and humiliated. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea. A very good idea she thought as he finished up his stretches and she got a beautiful view of his backside. She knew he’d be back in about 30 min and then she could creep back in the kitchen and watch him do his sit-ups and push ups he did to finish up his workout. Watching that would be even better than this part of the work out. God, she need to get a life. 

Just as Elain was about to put her now empty mug into the sink and head back to her desk Az turned and stared straight at her window. There wasn’t a chance that he couldn’t have seen her there, staring right at him in just a bralette and a messy bun. She could have played it off that she wasn’t ogling him for that past 5 minutes but she hadn’t slept at all that day and caffeine was getting the best of her so she didn’t really think anything through. No, she dropped her mug into the sink and dropped herself to the kitchen floor. And of course she hit her ass hard onto the cold tile which lead to a string of very un-Elain like curses coming from her mouth as she rubbed her now sore backside. 

Of course he would catch her staring at him. There goes her plan of making a move on him finally. She waited there on the cold floor for a few minutes to make sure he left on his run before pulling herself up. She’d have to move to another country she thought as she headed to her bedroom. Anything to avoid having to come face to face with Az ever again. She could have explained just sipping coffee as not being able to sleep, but now she looked like a complete creep like stalker. Oh well, she thought, there goes that.

Even 4 hours later when she was getting ready to leave for her class Elain was still beating herself over the mishap. But, as she opened her door to leave a slip of paper that had been wedged into the crack fell to her feet. To say she was surprised was an understatement as she unfolded it and saw what it read. Maybe we could get some coffee one of these days… call me. Ps i could tell you were watching me the whole time . -Az And there was his number scrawled across the bottom of the paper. Maybe this morning wasn’t as bad as I thought it was.


End file.
